Introduction [Stanislavsky and pedagogy]

Abstract

Building on a number of webinars organised by the Centre in collaboration with a number of institutions and collaborators, the book series aims at the exploration of Stanislavsky's legacy in relation to issues of contemporary relevance and impact, amongst which the author have placed a high importance on pedagogy. Fast forward some twenty-two years and these memories return quite strongly as the author accepted Paul Fryer's invitation to edit a book about Stanislavsky and pedagogy. That Stanislavsky himself rarely used the term ‘actor training’, opting instead for the more nuanced ‘development’ and the dynamics of ‘growth’ that it implies, further qualifies his use of pedagogy. Using pedagogy as a framing term also allows him to draw from the particularly rich field of critical pedagogy. Merlin's and Shirley's essays also become a valuable chronicle of a particular moment of our collective recent history, but they are not meant as a straight historical document.